In these years, ridiculing British food as unpalatable has almost become a form of political correctness.

Legend has it that those who go to study in the UK, no matter what major they study, have to minor in the kitchen in a "cooking", if they are lazy and skip class, they have to surrender to the 108 ways to eat potatoes, and accept the rotation of fish and chips, blood sausage pudding, and steak kidney pie.

Even if you've never been to the UK, you're familiar with the stargazing pie (many Brits haven't eaten it themselves), and if you dare to question the darkness of British cuisine, they can gag you with a smile and a smile on their back......

In fact, Haggis can also look good!

But—and I had to be brave enough to say it—there was one illogical thing that seemed to be lightly overlooked: the country's illustrious history, from the Normans to the Plantagenet to the Tudors, was innumerable, with a thriving maritime trade and an inexhaustible supply of spices, teas, and exotic ingredients. In order to show their status and status, the princes and nobles regarded self-seeking trouble as the highest criterion of life, from the width of the brim of the hat to the embroidery on the collar edge, were they picky, could it be that on their glittering and magnificent banquets, there were only potatoes, fish steaks and sausages to change back and forth?

The dinner party at "Downton Abbey" is so Fancy, it can't be just fish and chips, right?

If they had a sophisticated menu, why did British food become what it is today?

After a few days of eating in England, I plunged into the pile of old papers for days to piece together the general story of British cuisine – unexpectedly, it was not a short joke, but a long, tactful narrative poem.

Before the 11th century, English cuisine was very obscure due to the lack of documentation. We can only infer from a few letters that several complex dishes have appeared on the Anglo-Saxon royal table, such as minced chicken, mixed with whipped egg whites, piled on top of scallops, steamed in a pot, and seasoned with a little wine and honey – sounds good, right?

In the 11th century, William, Duke of Normandy, conquered England, which is a special mention in the history of English cuisine. The Normans, originally from northern France, also seized Sicily from the North African Arabs shortly after their conquest of England. The fusion of French and North African cultures brought to England by the royal family ushered in a prosperous era of British cuisine.

Today's criticism of British cuisine as unspiced and tasteless is a great rebellion in those days – influenced by Arabic and Persian cuisine, the Norman dynasty's love of spices and condiments was almost obsessive. Rich orange blossoms, juicy citrus, ripe and sweet figs, bright lemons, crisp pistachios and pine nuts from Sicily and North Africa are all highly sought after ingredients by British chefs. Pepper, almonds, cumin, cloves, nutmeg, saffron and ginger are also often found on royal purchase orders. Open the recipe of the 13th century, and there is a cloud of aroma and clouds:

A dark sauce made with blackcurrants, walnuts and cinnamon,

Add vinegar and breadcrumbs to adjust the consistency.

It is usually eaten with herons, egrets, cranes, crows, ducks, woodpeckers, or great bustards.

It should also be seen that in addition to eating, they also have the ability to show off their financial resources. Spices were as expensive as gold in ancient times, and herons, wild cranes, etc., were naturally more elegant than chickens, ducks, cattle and sheep. Among them, saffron is probably the most favored spice. One is because it is expensive, and the other is because it is beautiful, adding a pinch to the sauce can dye a pot of gold.

Today's British celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal has opened a restaurant in London, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, with an innovative interpretation of ancient British recipes, including a saffron-flavored Rice & Flesh menu.

The original recipe from 1390 was very simple, rice simmered in broth, seasoned with almond milk, saffron and salt. It looks casual, but the cost is not low, rice was also a noble imported ingredient at that time, and with the blessing of saffron, it was a double show off of wealth.

There was no meat in the original recipe, and "flesh" refers to the broth of the stewed rice, but to save diners confusion, Heston added veal tail stewed in red wine. The rice is made with risotto, with Parmesan cheese and butter for a rich taste, and white wine and white wine vinegar for a refreshing taste.

While displaying the ingredients, the chefs also played tricks on the styling. You know, it was an era when there were no TVs and mobile phones, and a formal dinner party had to be eaten for at least two hours. In order to avoid running out of talking points and sudden death of the topic, food must also take on the responsibility of entertainment.

The recipes teach chefs how to perform the magic trick of turning white wine into red wine in front of guests, and how to roll fish roe, eggs and flour into small dough and dye it with parsley juice to pretend to be a pea.

One of the most humorous dishes is probably this: minced pork, egg whites are added to form meatballs, boiled and then baked, and then egg yolks or saffron are used to simulate the golden surface of oranges, and some are molded into a green shell with flour and vanilla juice, and then brushed with a layer of hazelnut leaf juice and egg yolks, and it becomes a shiny "apple".

Medieval English aristocrats rarely ate fruit raw, so when they sliced open a round apple with a full stomach full of doubt, revealing the pork filling, it often elicited a heartfelt laugh.

Heston Blumenthal also recreated the dish in the restaurant called "Meat Fruit", with a uniform layer of citrus jelly that perfectly mimics the shape of an orange, and a smooth chicken liver mousse instead of pork, which is clearly a hint of French cuisine.

It's not hard to imagine the richness and smoothness of the chicken liver mousse, but the finishing touch is the sweet and sour citrus jelly, which gently holds the chicken liver and keeps it from falling into the wrong way.

This ethos intensified to the point that the feast became almost an elaborate drama, with dishes merely a tool for entertainment and show-off. At the royal banquet, the chef roasted the peacocks and inserted feathers one by one:

As soon as the puff pastry pie is opened, a bird flutters its wings and flies out, and be especially careful when you see a huge pudding being served—a dwarf acrobat may suddenly jump out of it.

The dove pie of "Game of Thrones" is not the brains of Old Man Martin himself...

A majestic castle carved out of dough surrounds the green grass, and roasted pheasants, partridges and pigeons are carefully coloured and brought to life. At that time, the aristocracy was really high-spirited - thousands of acres of fertile land, thousands of acres of dense forests, grasslands, mountains, rivers and oceans, in their eyes, were just their own property, which could be easily turned into miniature landscapes on the dinner plate.

By the time of the Tudor dynasty, life for the nobility was gradually becoming less and less pleasant. The enclosure movement and the Reformation followed, coupled with the impact of the commodity economy, the old aristocracy gradually declined, and the gentry and wealthy merchants began to rise.

The new bourgeoisie had no interest in pompous and cumbersome medieval recipes, and instead of expensive imported spices, they preferred to appreciate the unadorned taste of a local oyster.

In the 17th century, a hand-copied cookbook by Lady Fettiplace in England allows us to observe an interesting evolution of cooking practices. She still likes to use the common medieval roses and blackcurrants, but saffron is no longer present, and the variety of spices in her recipes has been reduced from seven or eight to two or three. She uses egg yolks instead of breadcrumbs to make a smoother sauce, boils rose petals into jam, peaches and apricots into syrup, pairs lamb with white wine sauce and squeezes a little fresh Seville orange juice on steamed oysters......

Until the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, the eating habits of the bourgeoisie did not change much. Simple?? Austin's best friend Martha?? Lloyd, who lived with the Austen family, shows in her manuscript that the life of the squire was idyllic and laid-back—with turkeys, geese, ducks, and guinea fowl in the yard, and fruit trees that produced lovely strawberries in the spring. Martha picks lettuce, chicory, onions, spinach, cucumbers, peas, asparagus and other fresh vegetables from the garden, and adds egg yolks, cream and a small spoonful of flour to create a pot of vegetable soup, and the pearly white steam bakes the kitchen warm.